WED 24.8. GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MONTANA Our food bags were back by 6 a.m. The temperature in the morning was - 4°C. I met /talked to a young couple from Barcelona (they´d been travelling in the same car as we did 3 years ago- DODGE CAMPER, better than our Toyota, because they could fold all the seats, whilst we couldn´t). On my question how they keep safe from bears, when having food inside – they had shown me a big plastic box which they purchased at Walmart. They thought it would be safe for them to keep food in their car and sleep in it, too. These young people had travelled in Europe quite extensively on their motorbike a few years ago; they went to the High Tatra Mountains in Slovakia, too. After breakfast we drove from our camp at St. Mary to Many Glacier location, and there we separated, as VP could not walk up as fast and as far as I could, and did not want to limit me. So, I decided to walk up to Grinnell Glacier and was about to take Grinnell Glacier Trailhead, when stopped by two smart rangers who were warning walkers about grizzly feeding on berries. Being on my own (the recommended number of walkers was at least three), they had stopped a young chap with his girlfriend and asked if I could join them, the young couple did not object to it. As the chap had a hand gun on his chest the rangers questioned him about using it and stressed, that should he shoot a bear, he would have to justify it in court, and have damn good reason for doing that. His name was “T Jay” (from Wisconsin) He was fully equipped, as can be seen from this photo: a hand gun holster on his chest, camera, binoculars, thermos flask and spray against the bears, and on his head he wore a headscarf and sunglasses. He was a friendly bloke though. For a while I walked with them, but they were too slow for me (blaming it on being a little tired after yesterday´s walk), so in about 10 minutes I left them and continued along Grinnell Glacier Trailhead. Info from a signboard: “Most of the forest trees are lodgepole pines (Pinus contorta), spruces (Picea abies) and firs (Abies), i.e. evergreen coniferous trees. The trail follows a chain of glacial lakes, whose basins were scoured out during the Ice Age. The area is often cut by avalanche chutes and higher up, only widely scattered subalpine plants have colonized the rock slopes. The entire area provides excellent habitat for moose, black and grizzly bears and bighorn sheep”. 132 Grinnell Glacier is in the heart of Glacier National Park. The glacier is named for George Bird Grinnell, an early American conservationist and explorer, who was also a strong advocate of ensuring the creation of Glacier National Park. The glacier has been one of the most photographed glaciers in the park and many of these photographs date back to the mid 19th century. When compared with images taken over subsequent years, the glacier has obviously retreated substantially. In 1850, at the end of what has been referred to as the Little Ice Age, Grinnell Glacier measured 2.9 km2, including the area of The Salamander Glacier, an ice apron or shelf glacier that used to be attached to Grinnell, but is now separate. By 1993, Grinnell Glacier measured 0.89 km2 and The Salamander measured 0.23 km2. Between 1966 and 2005, glacier lost almost 40 percent of its acreage. Of the estimated 150 glaciers which existed in the park in the mid-19th century, only 25 active glaciers remained by 2010. Scientists studying the glaciers in the park have estimated that all the glaciers in the NP, including Grinnell, may disappear by 2030 if the current climate patterns persist (if carbon dioxide levels increase a worst-case scenario). These there photos were taken on my way towards Grinnell Glacier. The Glacier was in front of me all the time. The first picture of it was taken from our car. At the top there was this beautiful ice-cold lake in which the Grinnell glacier melted away. People sit here, rest, and marvel before returning down. 133 These pictures were taken on my way down from Grinnell Glacier (flowers in those two photos are spp. Penstemon and Epilobium). Glacier National Park is a national park located on the Canada–United States border with the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. The park encompasses over 4,000 km2 and includes parts of two mountain ranges (sub-ranges of the Rocky Mountains), over 130 named lakes, more than 1,000 different species of plants, and hundreds of species of animals. This vast pristine ecosystem is the centrepiece of what has been referred to as the "Crown of the Continent Ecosystem", a region of protected land encompassing 41,000 km2. How long is it all going to last? 134 This graph tells it all: GOING, GOING, GONE The region that became Glacier National Park was first inhabited by Native Americans. Upon the arrival of European explorers, it was dominated by the Blackfeet in the east and the Flathead in the western regions. Under pressure the Blackfoot ceded the mountainous parts of their treaty lands in 1895 to the federal government; it later became part of the park. Two Medicine Lake with Sinopah Mountain (Wikipedia) 135 Glacier National Park has almost all its original native plant and animal species. Large mammals such as the grizzly bears, (approximately 300 grizzly bears are believed to live in the park as of 2008; photo taken from Wikipedia) moose, and mountain goats, as well as rare or endangered species like the wolverines and Canadian lynxes, inhabit this park. Hundreds of species of birds, more than a dozen fish species, and a few reptiles and amphibian species have been documented. The park has numerous ecosystems ranging from prairie to tundra. Notably, the easternmost forests of western red cedar and hemlock grow in the southwest portion of the park. Saint Mary Visitor Centre Glacier National Park borders Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada—the two parks are known as the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and were designated as the world's first International Peace Park in 1932. Both parks were designated by the United Nations as Biosphere Reserves in 1976, and in 1995 as World Heritage sites. 136 Enough information from Wikipedia and back to my trip The trail was 11 km long one way. It took me 4.5 hours to go up and 2.5 hours to come down. Just before reaching the car park I talked to two old men (in their 70´s) before they got on a boat to the other side of Swiftcurrent Lake. They had done a good walk and looked forward to be back in their Many Glacier Hotel. An uncle of the older man served as a soldier during the WW2 in Indonesia. What a pity I could not have talked to them a bit longer, time was pressing both parties. VP was waiting already at the car park and looked rather excited as he had actually seen a grizzly bear. Being on a path with other tourists they observed it from a safe distance as it was feeding on berries. Info from Visitor Centre: Grizzly eats up to 100 000 huckleberries / day in preparation for the winter hibernation. In the evening I went back to the same restaurant as last evening and enjoyed another very good meal. VP did not come with me as he left the car in the village (some 300-400m from the camp) to do some shopping and was not interested in going to Johnsons of St. Mary again. That evening we did not hide our foodstuff from the bears, we just wrapped up and sealed all our food in those big plastics bags which were left to us by the camp manager. Well, we did it also because we were told that no bears ever came to this camp. THU 23.8. Frost this morning once again. On my way to restrooms I had stopped to talk to these cyclists. They were from Idaho and cycling to east coast of US. The good lady was driving a car as support vehicle. Usual greeting in US: “How are you today?” It seemed that cyclists had a lot of clothes to wash! Nice and friendly people, but I was not much amused tough, when after I had told them about cycling ROUTE 66 against the wind 16 years ago, they suggested to do it again, but this time the other way round - with the wind behind me! I met these people once again later on when I was walking to a 137 Hidden Lake. Cyclists are often a funny lot (I include myself into this category)! Well they have to be to survive the torture of long distance cycling! Leaving the camp, and saying farewell to our neighbours from Barcelona, we had stopped once again at the Saint Mary Visitor Centre, since we were passing it anyway. There I saw a couple of short films on the GNP and the Indian tribe Kootenay. Then we continued towards Logan Pass Visitor Centre. After stopping, at what surely was some of the most beautiful scenery of GNP – Saint Mary Lake and Wild Goose Island, we were driving through burned forest. Large forest fires are uncommon in the park. However, in 2003 over 13% of the park was burned.